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<html><head><title>Class Loading and Class Path Management</title></head><body bgcolor="ffffff"><table cellspacing="10"><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.beanshell.org/"><img src="../images/homebutton.gif"/><br/>Home</a></td><td><a href="strictjava.html#Strict_Java_Mode"><img src="../images/backbutton.gif"/><br/>Back
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			</a></td></tr></table><h1>Class Loading and Class Path Management</h1>


BeanShell is capable of some very fine grained and sophisticated class 
reloading and modifications to the class path.  BeanShell can even map
the entire class path to allow for automatic importing of classes.


<h2><a name="Changing_the_Class_Path">Changing the Class Path</a></h2>

<strong>addClassPath( URL | path )</strong>
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>
Add the specified directory or archive to the classpath.  Archives may be
located by URL, allowing them to be loaded over the network.
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Examples:
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>
<p/><center><table border="1" cellpadding="5" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#dfdfdc"><pre>
addClassPath( "/home/pat/java/classes" );
addClassPath( "/home/pat/java/mystuff.jar" );
addClassPath( new URL("http://myserver/~pat/somebeans.jar") );
</pre></td></tr></table></center><p/>

Note that if you add class path that overlaps with the existing Java user 
classpath then the new path will effectively reload the classes in that
area.
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If you add a relative path to the classpath it is evaluated to an absolute
path; it does not "move with you".

<p/><center><table border="1" cellpadding="5" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#dfdfdc"><pre>
cd("/tmp");
addClassPath("."); // /tmp
</pre></td></tr></table></center><p/>

<strong>setClassPath( URL [] )</strong>
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>
Change the entire classpath to the specified array of directories and/or 
archives.  
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>

This command has some important side effects.  It effectively causes all
classes to be reloaded (including any in the Java user class path at startup).
Please see "Class Reloading" below for further details.
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Note: setClassPath() cannot currently be used to make the classpath smaller 
than the Java user path at startup.
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<h2><a name="Auto-Importing_from_the_Classpath">Auto-Importing from the Classpath</a></h2>

As an alternative to explicitly importing class names you may use the
following statement to trigger automatic importing:

<p/><center><table border="1" cellpadding="5" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#dfdfdc"><pre>
import *;
</pre></td></tr></table></center><p/>

There may be a significant delay while the class path is mapped.  This is why
auto-importing is not turned on by default.  When run interactively, Bsh will 
report the areas that it is mapping.
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It is only necessary to issue the auto-import command once.  Thereafter changes
in the classpath via the addClassPath() and setClassPath() commands will
remap as necessary.
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<em>
Note: As of BeanShell 1.1alpha new class files added to the classpath 
(from outside of BeanShell) after mapping will not be seen in imports.
</em>


<h2><a name="Reloading_Classes">Reloading Classes</a></h2>

BeanShell provides an easy to use mechanism for reloading classes from the 
classpath.  It is possible in BeanShell to reload arbitrary subsets of classes 
down to a single class file.  However There are subtle issues to be understood 
with respect to what it means to reload a class in the Java environment. 
Please see the discussion of class loading detail below.  But in a nutshell,
it is important that classes which work together be reloaded together at
the same time, unless you know what you are doing.
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<strong>reloadClasses( [ package name ] )</strong>
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The most course level of class reloading is accomplished by issuing the 
reloadClasses() command with no arguments.  

<p/><center><table border="1" cellpadding="5" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#dfdfdc"><pre>
reloadClasses();
</pre></td></tr></table></center><p/>

This will effectively reload all
classes in the current classpath (including any changes you have made through
addClassPath()).
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<em>
Note: that reloading the full path is actually a light weight operation that 
simply replaces the class loader - normal style class loading is done as
classes are subsequently referenced.
</em>
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Be aware that any object instances which you have previously created may not 
function with new objects created by the new class loader.  Please see the
discussion of class loading details below.
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You can also reload all of the classes in a specified package:

<p/><center><table border="1" cellpadding="5" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#dfdfdc"><pre>
reloadClasses("mypackage.*");
</pre></td></tr></table></center><p/>

This will reload only the classes in the specified package.  The classes will
be reloaded even if they are located in different places in the classpath (e.g.
if you have some of the package in one directory and some in another).
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>

As a special case for reloading unpackaged classes the following commands
are equivalent:
<p/><center><table border="1" cellpadding="5" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#dfdfdc"><pre>
reloadClasses(".*") 
reloadClasses("&lt;unpackaged&gt;")
</pre></td></tr></table></center><p/>
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>

You can also reload just an individual class file:
<p/><center><table border="1" cellpadding="5" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#dfdfdc"><pre>
reloadClasses("mypackage.MyClass") 
</pre></td></tr></table></center><p/>

<em>Note: As of alpha1.1 classes contained in archives (jar files) cannot be
reloaded. i.e. jar files cannot be swapped.</em>
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>

<h4>Mapping the path</h4>

Unlike the reloadClases() command which reloads the entire class path,
when you issue a command to reload a package or individual class name
BeanShell must map some portions of the classpath to find the location of 
those class files.  This operation can be time consuming, but it is only
done once.  If running in interactive mode feedback will be given on the
progress of the mapping.
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>

<h2><a name="Loading_Classes_Explicitly">Loading Classes Explicitly</a></h2>

In order to perform an explicit class lookup by name while taking into 
account any BeanShell class path modification you must use a replacement
for the standard Class.forName() method.
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>

The getClass() command will load a class by name, using the BeanShell
classpath.  Alternately, you can consult the class manager explicitly:

<p/><center><table border="1" cellpadding="5" width="100%"><tr><td bgcolor="#dfdfdc"><pre>
name="foo.bar.MyClass";
c = getClass( name );
c = BshClassManager.classForName( name );  // equivalent
</pre></td></tr></table></center><p/>

<h2><a name="Setting_the_Default_ClassLoader">Setting the Default ClassLoader</a></h2>

The bsh.Interpeter setClassLoader() and bsh.BshClassManager.setClassLoader()
methods can be used to set an external class loader which is consulted
for all basic class loading in BeanShell.  
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>

BeanShell will use the specified class loader at the same point where it 
would otherwise use the plain Class.forName().  If no explicit classpath 
management is done from the script (addClassPath(), setClassPath(), 
reloadClasses()) then BeanShell will only use the supplied classloader.  
If additional classpath management is done then BeanShell will perform that 
in addition to the supplied external classloader.  However BeanShell is not 
currently able to reload classes supplied through the external classloader.  
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<h2><a name="Class_Loading_in_Java">Class Loading in Java</a></h2>

A fundamental Java security proposition is that classes may only be loaded 
through a class loader once and that classes loaded through different class
loaders live in different name spaces.  By different name spaces I mean that
they are not considered to be of the same type, even if they came from the
very same class file.
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You can think of this in the following way:  When you load classes through
a new class loader imagine that every class name is prefixed with the 
identifier "FromClassLoaderXXX" and that all internal references to other
classes loaded through that class loader are similarly rewritten.  Now if
you attempt to pass a reference to a class instance loaded through another
class loader to one of your newly loaded objects, it will not recognize it
as the same type of class.
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BeanShell works with objects dynamically through the reflection API, so
your scripts will not have a problem recognizing reloaded class objects.
However any objects which have you already created might not like them.


<h2><a name="Class_Loading_in_BeanShell">Class Loading in BeanShell</a></h2>

The following is a discussion of the BeanShell class loader architecture,
which allows both course class path extension and fine grained individual
class reloading.
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<strong>Thriftiness</strong> - Abiding by the BeanShell thriftiness 
proposition: no class loading code is exercised unless directed by a
command.  BeanShell begins with no class loader and only adds class loading
in layers as necessary to achieve desired effects.
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The following diagram illustrates the two layer class loading scheme:
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>
<center>
<img src="../images/bshclassloading.gif"/>
</center>
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A "base" class loader is used to handle course changes to the classpath 
including added path.  Unless directed by setClassPath() the base loader will
only add path and will not cover existing Java user class path.  This prevents
unnecessary class space changes for the existing classes.
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Packages of classes and individual classes are mapped in sets by class 
loaders capable of handling discrete files.  A mapping of reloaded classes
is maintained.  The discrete file class loaders will also use this mapping
to resolve names outside there space, so when any individual class is reloaded
it will see all previously reloaded classes as well.
<p CLEAR="ALL"/>

The BshClassManager knows about all class loader changes and broadcasts
notification of changes to registered listeners.  BeanShell namespaces use
this mechanism to dereference cached type information, however they do not
remove existing object instances.
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Type caching is extremely important to BeanShell performance.  So changing
the classloader, which necessitates clearing all type caches, should be 
considered an expensive operation. 
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